telling the folks
by great gospel
Summary: Surprisingly, the first person she tells is Cid. Tifa is none too pleased about this. [sequel: "meeting the parents" is up!]


**Word Count** : 1,251

 **Timeline/Spoilers** : set sometime post-DoC; no spoilers

 **Summary** : Surprisingly, the first person she tells is Cid. Tifa is none too pleased about this. [sequel: "meeting the parents" is up!]

 **Notes** : Mostly dialogue. Technically Yuffentine, but Vincent doesn't appear. It's more of a Yuffie/Cid friendship than anything, which I absolutely adore. The story just kept going, though, and Tifa eventually wormed her way in there. And I kept the symbol-swearing because it's just so Cid, haha.

In other news, this is my 50th fanfic! :)

* * *

"Soooo, me and Vinnie are kind of a thing now."

"Valentine?"

"Yup."

" _Vincent_ Valentine?"

"Mmhmm."

"Doesn't age, has all those guns, demons in his head?"

"Uh-huh."

"The red harbinger of death?"

"That's the guy."

" _Our_ Vincent?"

"The one and only!"

"…#&$%, I need a smoke."

.

"We were keeping it on the down low for a while. Vinnie's kind of shy," she winked playfully. Yuffie had planted herself on arm of Cid's recliner, chattering away blissfully. The man himself was oddly unresponsive, only nodding along here or there. He was still in the process of allowing her declaration to sink in.

"Hmph, I figured you woulda blabbed your mouth to Tifa, and she'd have mailed us all a newsletter update by now, complete with photos," he groused.

"Nope!" she grinned, shrugging slightly. "I mean she _did_ know I had a crush on Vinnie for, like, _ever_ , but you're the first to hear the official news, you lucky old man!"

Cid grimaced, but tried to cover it by taking a long drag of his cigarette.

The girl at his side saw through it, though (nothing gets past the Great Ninja Yuffie after all) and immediately bristled. "What?! You got a problem with Vince and me?!"

He groaned inwardly, knowing where this was going. "No, that's not what I–"

"Because let me tell you, mister. I dragged my ass all the way to Rocket Town to tell you the _wonderful_ news–"

"Look, would you settle down for just a sec–"

"–because Vinnie's one of the best things that ever happened to me, no matter what you may think about us–"

"Brat, if you would just let me–"

"–and here I thought you might actually be happy for me because _he and I_ are very happy together, and gods forbid that I–"

"YUFFIE!"

She halted abruptly, pointer finger a few millimeters away from his face, ready to jab him in the eye. Very rarely did the man ever address her by her actual name, so it caught her off guard. And it was usually something important when he did, so she paused her rant, albeit grudgingly, but ready to start up again in a moment's notice.

"I don't have a problem with you and Vincent," he said gruffly.

Yuffie blinked owlishly at him, going slack jaw. "But, you said–"

"I didn't actually say anything, ya damn brat! You made all those assumptions for yourself!"

She lowered her arm bashfully, realizing her mistake. "But then, why the face?" she questioned, much more calmly this time.

He turned his head away swiftly, causing Yuffie to tilt hers to the side in confusion. Gods, where was Shera when he needed her? The blonde seemed to be having trouble putting his words together, muttering sounds under his breath that she couldn't decipher.

"Out with it already, Highwind!" she urged impatiently.

He let out a long huff in response, stabbing the butt of his cigarette into the nearest ashtray. "It's not anything to do with Vincent personally, okay? I mean... Nothing wrong with him, he's a good pal of mine. I just…" His hand came up to scratch the back of his head, discomfort written plainly across his slightly-wrinkled face. Yuffie only grew more curious by the second.

"I just wanna make sure you're being taken care of, alright?"

The young ninja puffed up again, rightfully indignant over the idea that _she_ needed taking care of.

"Not that I think you need someone to take care of you," he quickly amended. "I know you can handle yourself in battle. Hell, I've been at the receiving end of a few of those power punches over the past few years," he grinned ruefully. "What I mean is that I wanna know that Vince is being good to you." Pausing thoughtfully, he added, "And that if he's trying to get into your pants, he's serious about it."

"Cid!" she protested weakly, going pink.

"I guess all I'm trying to say is that I want you to be happy, and I don't want to see you get hurt," he finally grumbled out. "Damn vampire couldn't even come and face me himself," he murmured to himself as an afterthought.

And just like that, it all clicked. Suddenly, the young woman was bouncing around his living room, tittering, "You do care, you do! Oh, I knew you loved me, you stupid, old pilot!" Said pilot was quietly trying to plan his escape, while she was distracted. Next thing he knew, however, she was plopped back on his armrest, throwing her scrawny arms around his shoulders in a big, squishy hug. Unaccustomed to such open affection, he instinctively tried to pull away, until he heard a soft, sincere whisper of, "Thanks, old man."

Cid couldn't hold back the wide grin that spread across his usually cranky features. Although, a sly look quickly took over. "So tell me, brat, why did you decide come to me first?"

Yuffie inched back, not liking his tone of voice. Slightly red-faced, she stammered out, "Well, you see… About that, I just… What had happened was…"

The shit-eating grin only stretched wider. "You ran Vince by me first because you care what I think of your relationship! You wanted my approval!"

She jumped to her feet, hands planted firmly on her hips. "Look, you just happened to be the closest one around! I didn't seek you out specially or anything!" she exclaimed, conveniently forgetting about her words from earlier that would suggest otherwise.

"You just keep telling yourself that, kid," he barked out in laughter. "Well, tell old lover boy that it's a no go until he comes here himself and says it to me like a man!"

"Aww, Cid…" she nagged half-heartedly, but couldn't keep the smile off her own face.

.

A week later…

"You told _Cid_ first?!"

Yuffie slinked back slowly, waving her hands in front of her in an attempt to dissuade the other woman. She and Vincent had walked into Seventh Heaven hand-in-hand and were immediately pounced with hugs and congratulatory remarks from Tifa, who now looked like she wanted to squeeze her to death instead. Vincent had mysteriously vanished at the first sign of trouble. "Bastard…" Yuffie muttered to herself. "You better believe you're sleeping on the couch tonight."

The ninja had just let it slip that she'd popped by Cid and Shera's before coming to Edge for one of their regular reunions and to relay the news. "C'mon, Tifa, it's no big deal."

"No big deal?! I've only been rooting for you guys for ages! I would have at least liked to have been informed on this development!" the martial artist all but pouted.

"And you were!" Yuffie assured her. "The old man is just kind of like, well, my old man to me. I couldn't _not_ run it by him first. You were very next on the list, I promise!"

Tifa softened at this admittance.

"…Except I mean, Shera eventually came home, so _of course_ I told _her_. Then we ran into Nanaki on the way here from Kalm, and I just _had_ to say something. And I mean Marlene saw us holding hands outside the bar, so we _obviously_ had to spill to her," Yuffie rambled on, unaware of the fact that she was rapidly digging her own grave.

Tifa grew deadly quiet. "Yuffie…"

"…Oh, #&$%!"

Cid's loud guffaws could be heard in the background, and Vincent Valentine was nowhere to be found.

* * *

 **A/N** : Well, that was fun to write, even if it was mostly nonsense. :) No hating on Tifa, btw. I love her to death, I just thought it'd be funny this way. I hope you liked it! Please review and let me know what you think!


End file.
